Mallett: Lions boast superior skills

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Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett says the
skills level of the Lions players is a cut above the rest of the South African
franchises.

The Lions impressed in their 36-32 defeat of two-time Super
Rugby champions, the Chiefs, in Hamilton at the weekend.

It was their second away win on the trot following their
26-3 win over the Sunwolves in Tokyo in Round 1.

Speaking in the SuperSport studio, Mallett said the
performance of the men from Johannesburg “gave South African rugby a huge
lift”.

“For two years, the Lions have been my favourite team in
South Africa. They have the ability not only to play with width, but play at
pace. They have a flyhalf in Elton Jantjies who controls the rhythm of the game
and the scrumhalf Faf de Klerk is absolutely brilliant,” said Mallett.

“The skills levels of this Lions team are well above our
other franchise players and the reasons for it is consistency of selection, the
same two coaches (Johan Ackermann and Swys de Bruin), a captain in Warren
Whiteley who everyone supports and a very good squad in which they apply the
rotation policy well.”

In their next outing, the Lions face the Highlanders in Dunedin this Saturday (08:35 SA time).